Coral Foley: a phenomenal woman of faith and ‘true grit’
I sat down with Coral Foley after I saw our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministry (ATSIM) Director in Australia, Pr Darren Garlett, post some of her story to Facebook on National Sorry Day.
When asked “Where is home for you?” she simply responded, “From all over and everywhere,” with a smile.
What struck me most about Coral was: even as one who has known so much pain, injustice and heartache as a person of the stolen generations, she speaks about life, church and Jesus with such genuine warmth and hope.
Coral’s early years were spent with her mother, brothers and sister at Williambury Station, 200 km north-east of Carnarvon. “My little heaven on earth,” she smiled with a flash of joy in her eyes. She shared fond memories fishing by the creek, hauntingly beautiful summer storms across the southern sky, the smell of sheep’s wool on the back of the mail truck into town, and slipping down sheep slides with her brother—to which her mum always exclaimed, “You two smell like sheep poo!”
They cooked fresh bardi grubs and fish from the stream. Her favourite treat was gum from the eucalyptus trees, soaked in sugar water, “That was our lolly.” There were delicious date palms, lemons and oranges on the property, “it was lovely.”
Consequently, there were two consecutive forced removals in Corals family, firstly her parents and then the children. Coral’s older siblings were placed into Carnavon mission and then years later Coral and her brother Harold were taken to Roelands Native Mission Farm approximately 1000 km away from their parents. (now known as Seven Hills near Bunbury and Collie River Road).
At Roelands—“a freezing cold place,” Coral said—the boys and girls were separated at all times, so she was unable to spend time with her brother. The children had no footwear, enduring chilblains on bare feet. The kids used to put their feet in cow dung to keep warm.
“One horrible teacher” singled out her and a friend. He would strike their hands and the backs of their legs with his bare hand until they were bloody. It took a while for the missionaries to figure out what was happening. Gratefully, they fired him.
Many children were sick, with a few dying from a mystery illness that ripped through the mission. Coral still has trouble with a leaking heart valve as it’s never fully recovered from the incident.
I was genuinely surprised at Coral’s insistence that she also had positive memories of her time at Roelands. She enjoyed going to Dunsborough with the girls during summer holidays where there were Nissen huts beside the beach. They enjoyed new boats out in the deep ocean water where “the big girls used to frighten the little girls”.
As I listened to her speak, I almost felt uneasy at how quickly she seemed to dismiss her own pain. She often kept coming back to her parents’ experience, saying, “I got off easy. Others had it way worse… My mum and dad never had what we have now.”
In the 1920’s—well before Coral was born—her parents, William Foley and Tilly Anderson, were forcibly removed under the 1905 Act which made laws for every Aboriginal child in WA to be under the legal guardian of the government. At the age of seven her parents were removed from their homelands Derby and Fitzroy and was taken to Moore River Native Settlement, 135 km north of Perth. Sadly, they would never return or speak their language again. The impacts of stolen generation is a common story for many Aboriginal families.
Coral’s mother, Tilly, was assaulted in the care of the settlement, by a person in authority then blamed for her pregnancy. She was only 14. Her son, Anthony Anderson, was taken away from her because he was deemed “too white” and placed at Sister Kate’s in Perth.
Anthony, the eldest of Coral’s three brothers, grew up being told his mother had disowned him. He held it against her for most of his life until he read his Native Welfare Files in his 30’s. He broke down and cried as he read the truth. Anthony suffered poor mental health until he died at an early age.
Coral says, “I look back—our people have suffered like the Waldenses. I’m reading the Great Controversy at the moment—I want to save up and go on a Reformation Tour—It just makes you feel so blessed. If you know you’ve got God with you, nothing matters. My prayer is come, Lord Jesus!”
Coral stayed at Roelands until age 14, when her older sister Violet Chitty and family took her in at their home in Collie.
Coral and Violet were baptised by Pr Austin Fletcher at Collie Seventh-day Adventist Church, when Coral was about 15 years old. She recalls with absolute delight, Pr Fletcher talked about the Sabbath, healthy eating and prophecy.
She attended our very first Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Bible College at Ashcroft Hall, Carmel Adventist College from 1997-1998, with a one year practical in Moree, NSW during 1999. “I really enjoyed that time.”
She became a Bible worker and travelled to many ATSIM camps around Australia including Karalundi, Sydney, Nullagine and Karratha, to support and encourage Aboriginal communities and support their spiritual wellbeing.
Coral was a great help to Pr Keith Godfrey who is well-known for being a loving person. When he was appointed as ATSIM Director, he was unsure about the role and prayed, “Lord, if You want me to be in this role, I need one baptism by the end of the year.” He baptised Coral her second time at Karalundi College. She was the assurance that God was in this work.
One of her proudest moments in ATSIM is happening now: “A lot of of our kids are studying to do medicine, which is lovely.” These include Gerald Ryder, Shontae Coyne, Drew Jenke and Dr Heather Kessaris.
In 2008, Coral, along with her daughter, Cathy Garlett, and son-in-law, Pr Darren Garlett, visited Parliament House in Canberra to hear the Australian government apologise to our First Nations people for the mistreatment they endured. “I was a bit teary. A lot of people were crying” she recalled.
Cathy echoed, “It was truly an emotional day and bought a lot of tears to our eyes. We as Christians should do the work of justice to support the downtrodden here on earth.”
Coral said, “Our church needs to read the history of our people. I don’t think they understand a lot of the hurt and pain our parents went through. Our water holes were poisoned... there were a lot of massacres all over Australia. Our church needs to realise a lot of the trouble we’re having now might be connected.”
With a heavy heart she reflected, “The history of Australia is so sad. Even the people who colonised Australia from England were prisoners. It’s just so sad.”
“God has a good sense of humour!” she says with a smile. While recently pushing the stroller in a Forrestfield park, her granddaughter said, “I wish we had some money, Nan, so we could take these kids somewhere.” Coral prayed. Right in front of her, Coral picked up an AU$100 note from beside a tree. Laughing with goosebumps on her skin, she said, “I wasn’t expecting You to be that quick!”
At age 73, you’ll find Coral working hard with another granddaughter running weaving workshops around Perth. She’s looking forward to a new dedicated arts space being added to the Karla Bidjar Seventh-day Adventist Church, where people can create woven goods to raise funds for their church mob.
When asked about her dreams for the future of ATSIM in the Adventist church, she responded, “More beautiful things. Like our little Karla Bidjar. It would be good to keep Karalundi open too. I believe God will bless the ATSIM work that’s being done around Australia.”
“Just seeing the people come in [at Karla Bidjar]—they’re so joyful! They want to be there. It’s not like some of our Adventist churches that are a club. Oldies are there with cuppa teas going, bickies and fresh food from Second Bite. Kids grabbing what they can. It’s like ‘wellbeing’. This is how church should be. Karla Bidjar is a cultural spiritual healing place.”
“The atmosphere at Sabbath School can be very emotional. People will ‘say it like it is’ in their family. We pray for them... Diane Brand—she’s the best! You listen to her pray. A lot of things are sad in her life too. She just loves the Lord, She prays and sings ‘in language’ then ends in English. Her prayers are beautiful, and her stories are lovely. She visits people in hospital and encourages them. She’s a shining light!”
Coral has an incredible way of remembering both the good with the bad. Her insight rings clear as crystal, “We’re always going to have racism, and we must not be silent on these matters while we wait for soon return of Jesus. You’ve just got to hold on to God no matter what because it’s going to be tough… ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ He knows the beginning and the end. This old world is falling apart. Bring it on, I say.”
Thinking of all the abuse she suffered over the years, Coral says with assurance, “God’s looked after me all that time.”
Andrew ‘Bushy’ Beck, who attends our Livingston Seventh-day Adventist Church, calls ‘Aunty Coral’ a woman of “true grit”.
I wholeheartedly agree.
¹ ATSIM stands for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries in our Adventist church
